Elon Musk has claimed he’ll fight tech rival Mark Zuckerberg ‘any place, anywhere’ after the Facebook founder appeared to pull out of the fight last month.
The pair were in discussions to stage a ‘cage match’ at the Colosseum in Rome, with UFC chief Dana White even stepping in to help negotiations.
But after Zuckerberg claimed his focus is now on ‘competing with people who take the sport seriously,’ X (formerly Twitter) owner Musk has offered his side of the story.
Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said that Zuckerberg had reservations about fighting without UFC branding at the Colosseum.
‘And then Zuck pulled out. He used the pull-out method,’ Musk cracked, adding that he was willing to fight under UFC rules.
Elon Musk said he would fight tech rival Mark Zuckerberg ‘anywhere, any time’ this week
Zuckerberg had previously accused Musk of ‘not being serious,’ the Tesla founder said
“I’ll fight you any place, anywhere, under any rules.”
Elon Musk tells Joe Rogan that it was Mark Zuckerberg that pulled out of the initial fight. pic.twitter.com/8mXHp9KGDR
— Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) October 31, 2023
In text messages leaked to biographer Walter Isaacson in August, Zuckerberg told Musk, ‘If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you’re ready to compete.’
Musk told Rogan this week, ‘He accused me of not being serious. And I said, ‘Listen, at the end of the day, I’ll fight you any place, anywhere under any rules.”
The 52-year-old added, ‘I’m way bigger than him, it’s unfair. I don’t think he should fight me.’
The Tesla founder said that he had previous fighting experience, including competing in martial arts as a teenager.
However, he admitted to Zuckerberg in their August text exchange that he had ‘not been practicing much, apart from a brief bout with Lex Fridman today.’
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, was seen training with UFC stars Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski earlier this year.
Israel Adesanya (left) and Alexander Volkanovski (right) trained with Mark Zuckerberg
Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear that a Musk-Zuckerberg fight will be happening.
In September, White poured cold water on the possible matchup. ‘I never say never, but probably not,’ he said on ‘OutKick The Morning.’
White bemoaned the cost of failing to make the billion-dollar fight, given the proceeds were due to go to charity.
‘Let me tell you who would win in that fight: whatever charities were picked to donate the money to,’ he added.
Musk’s father, Errol Musk, has also said it is not going to happen.
‘It’s to get publicity for X,’ he claimed. ‘Elon’s not faking it, just drawing attention to X.’